Syrian forces advance further into Palmyra

Date of publication: 25 03 2016, 06:50

Homs, SANA – The army units, in cooperation with popular defense groups, have advanced further in the vicinity if the ancient city of Tdmur (Palmyra), a UNESCO world Heritage site, in the central Homs province.

A military source told SANA that al-Qubour valley and al-Qusour Mountains, located to the west of Palmyra, came in the army’s hands, after earlier restoring al-Tar Mountain, 3 km west of Palmyra Castle.

ISIS gatherings in those areas were all eliminated to the last one.

The army units and the popular defense groups advanced further and killed or injured all ISIS terrorists at Dedeman Hotel and al-Ziraa roundabout at the southwestern entrance of the city.

The source pointed out that the army units dismantled the mines and explosives left behind by the terrorists.

Army units arrived in the south western outskirts of Palmyra after inflicting heavy losses in personnel and munitions upon ISIS terrorists in all axes of clashes in the area surrounding the city.

SANA reporter said that army operations concentrated on Thursday afternoon on gatherings of ISIS terrorists towards Palmyra citadel and Syriatel hill after advancing from the south western entrance of the city towards to the gas station.

Other army units advanced towards the warehouses from the north eastern direction after establishing control over al-Tar Mountain.

Palmyra citadel which oversees the archeological city suffered vandalism and destruction by ISIS terrorist organization that robbed hundreds of artifacts from the National Museum in the city and destroyed a number of historical monuments including the tower tombs, Arch of Triumph, BaalShamin temple and many others.

Meanwhile, a military source assured that Syria’s Army Air Force destroyed during intensive operations which were carried out on Thursday afternoon reinforcements of ISIS terrorists which were coming from al-Sukhneh city 70 kilometers to the north east of Palmyra in addition to gatherings of the Takfiri organization in al-Teibeh village on al-Raqqa road.

A series of deliberate vandalism acts were inflicted by ISIS on ruins and historical sites in Palmyra after the terrorist organization took over it last May, where its members destroyed last October a nearly 2,000-year-old arch of Triumph in the ancient city of Palmyra.

Last September three ancient tower tombs that date back to different eras from 44 to 103 A.D, including the Tower of Elahbel, built in 103 AD and regarded as the finest example of this type of building, in addition to the Tower of Iamliku and the Tower of Kitot were destroyed by terrorists.

ISIS terrorists also destroyed last August large parts of the ancient Temple of Bel, dating back to 32 AD, and Temple of Baalshamin, while in early July, ISIS destroyed the 1,900-year-old “Lion of Al-Lat” statue in Palmyra.

Sweida

Army units targeted gatherings of ISIS terrorists in the northeastern countryside of the southern Sweida province, according to the military source.

The operations resulted in destroying vehicles, some of which equipped with machineguns, and damaging others in Asheiheb al-Janoubi Hill.

Another car for ISIS terrorists was destroyed in an army operation northwest of al-Khazan area in al-Qasr village.